Thetrainline covers its own tracks

The Diary often lies awake at night fearing the arrival of the day when machines take over, and a sadistic breakdancing robotic monkey with aerials and disposable thumbs takes over the job.

So it was slightly reassuring to see that despite the march of technology, not everything in the modern world has become computer-based and automated.

Take Thetrainline.com, a company that sells train tickets online and through its call centres. The Diary was mildly surprised to learn that its customer services department has neither an e-mail address nor a phone number. Indeed, the only way to contact them about a problem or complaint is by good old-fashioned snail mail. Looks like those robotic monkeys are a way off yet.